History Skyrim / TropesNToT

** UpToEleven in Riften where everyone knows the city guards are corrupt and in the Black-Briars' pocket, and they will easily forgive you of any crimes for just half the bounty they incurred if you're in with the Thieves Guild.

** UpToEleven in Riften where everyone knows the city guards are corrupt and in the Black-Briars' pocket, and will easily forgive you of any crimes for just half the bounty they incurred if you're in with the Thieves Guild.

** Related to this is an encounter in which vampires pull a similar stunt with some Vigilants of Stendarr (killing them, donning their clothes, and then asking the player character to come near). As described below, Dawnguard makes vampires easy to spot, and even if you don't face-check them, they're still standing right next to the naked corpses and the abrasive voice calling out "You there! Traveler! Over here!" sounds nothing like any of the real Vigilants in the game.

* OneHitKill: Easily performed by the player character with sufficiently high abilities and/or if playing on lower difficulty settings, usually accompanied by a flashy execution sequence. Meanwhile, Legendary difficulty is notorious because of how easy it is for certain to do this to YOU.

* SadisticChoice: When the beggar Narfi asks you about his sister, you can either crush his spirit by telling him the truth of her death, or fill him with false hope by lying and saying she'll be home soon, which is likely to hurt him even more in the future.

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: In the Daedric quest "The Mind of Madness," Sheogorath mentions that he was present during the Oblivion Crisis (and mentions knowing Martin as well), which implies that the player character from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' is still effectively the Daedric Prince that you meet in the quest. Strangely, Sheogorath appears and speaks with the same voice and mannerisms as the original Sheogorath from the ''Shivering Isles'' expansion, either due to RuleOfFunny or to resolve that game's own CharacterCustomization, which is similar in scope to ''Skyrim''.

*** With Dragonborn, we get Ahzidal (Bitter Destroyer), Dukaan (Dishonor), and Zahkriisos (Sword Blood/Finite Kill Blood/Bloody Sword). Only Vahlok (Guardian), Qahnaarin (Vanquisher) and [[spoiler:Miraak (Allegiance Guide)]] break the tradition.

** Vampirism is similar. Contracted vampirism gives the player a number of cool abilities, but it's regulated by lack of feeding and going too long without it renders everyone hostile to you, forcing you to balance your feeding carefully. Sunlight also cuts off your ability to regenerate magicka, health, and stamina barring enchanted apparel or potions. The more powerful Vampire Lord introduced with ''Dawnguard'' removes the hatred weakness and gives you a transformation even more versatile than the werewolf form.
* TheNecromancer: You encounter a fair number of these in Skyrim, most of them enemies. And with the right spells and perks, your Dragonborn can be one.
** [[spoiler:Alduin himself is this to his draconic brethren, and is the reason that the dragons are returning to Skyrim]].

* NeverSayDie: The game is very weird about this. While characters obviously have no problem saying "kill", "death", "murder", or variation thereof, the journal entries always provide the objective to "defeat" the enemy, never "kill" the enemy.

** In "The Blessings of Nature," if you choose to manipulate the Eldergleam in order to access your destination, [[spoiler: you also give life to a number of Spriggans who turn hostile on both you... and some friendly visitors who were only there to confine themselves in the peace and tranquility of the grove.]]

** As you progress through the game, you learn that the Stormcloak rebellion is in large part responsible for bringing the Thalmor's attention to Skyrim in the first place. They might never have bothered to enforce their ban on Talos worship if Ulfric hadn't started a civil war. Related to this, if Ulfric had talked to Torygg instead of killing him, he might have been persuaded to declare independence and no war would have been needed in the first place. Justified since [[spoiler:the Thalmor instigated the Stormcloak rebellion in the first place to weaken the Empire and to give them an excuse to establish a foothold in Skyrim for their eventual invasion. Though they are concerned that Ulfric is becoming too successful.]]
** When the Dragonborn ventures to [[spoiler: Sovngarde]] in hot pursuit of Alduin, it's discovered that [[spoiler: to regain his strength, Alduin has been feasting on the ''enormous'' number of souls that have been caused by the Civil War. If the war has been won in the name of Ulfric before this point in the game, Legate Rikke can be found in Sovngarde despairing on how all the Legion's war did was make Alduin stronger. Ulfric has the same view if the war is completed for the Imperials.]]

** In ''Dragonborn'', before embarking on their planned assassination of the "False Dragonborn", one of Miraak's cultists makes sure to carry written instructions with them mentioning both Miraak and Solstheim. From this, the Dragonborn is ''[[SarcasmMode surprisingly]]'' able to figure out who wants them dead and where they are from!

** On top of that, there's no way to go against the Thieves' Guild or Maven Black-Briar. The fact that Brynjolf forces the first of the Thieves' Guild quests on you the first time he sees you (which is pretty easy, as he stands in the center of Riften every day) has caused a few mods to pop up ''specifically to invoke this trope'' just so they wouldn't be accosted by him. (You ''can'' tell him no, when he asks you to do it, but some players would just rather not be asked at all.)

* NoKillLikeOverkill: [[spoiler: Near the end of the Dark Brotherhood questline, you return home to find Penitus Occulus Agents sacking the Sanctuary. Festus was one of the first to fight back, and he was [[RainOfArrows pinned to a tree by nearly 40 arrows.]]]]

** The Master-level Destruction spells, but in particular Firestorm and Blizzard. The former is basically a fantasy nuke centered on you, obliterating anyone without fire protection in the area. The latter conjures up a devastating hailstorm that constantly chews away at the health of everyone within the vicinity. Both will pretty much guarantee that you kill anything and everything with an HP bar dead. The problem is this would often kill friendlies too, which will cause everyone you didn't hit to start attacking you (and possibly racking up an impossibly huge bounty). This makes both of them completely unusable if you're running around with allies, or fighting in a neutral zone with people you don't wanna piss off.

* NoTrueScotsman: Heard on both sides of the Civil War. The Stormcloaks believe that the Empire is weak, that no true Nord would surrender to the Aldmeri Dominion or agree to the White-Gold Concordat, while the Imperial-allied Nords believe that Skyrim has always been a loyal part of the Empire and no true Nord would be only a fair-weather ally.

* ObfuscatingInsanity: Jarl Idgrod Ravencrone of Morthal purposely adopts the persona of an eccentric old mystic. [[spoiler: If you've already ingratiated yourself with her and ask for her help during "Diplomatic Immunity", she'll use this to provide a hilarious distraction to allow you to infiltrate the Thalmor embassy]].

** Mercer Frey, the extremely rude guildmaster of the Thieves Guild.

* [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Draconic Chanting]]: A rare heroic version in the Dovahkiin's/Dragonborn's theme songs: ''Sons of Skyrim'' and ''One They Fear'', as well as ''Watch The Skies'' which alternately plays when a dragon attacks.

* OpiumDen: Redwater Den. It's a Skooma bar that while being by otherwise innocent addicts, is run by sadists who drug their personal brand, take said unconscious victims into a jail below to be turned into Vampire Thralls.

** The Blades, too - though unlike in ''Oblivion'', you can't join them, as the Order proper has long since fallen apart and almost entirely died out. Plus they are nominally supposed to ''serve'' you, as their purpose is to serve a Dragonborn and you are the last Dragonborn (not that this oath of "service" stops them ''demanding'' that you kill [[spoiler: Paarthunax]], and refusing to talk to you or help until you do). However, you ''can'' help [[OrderReborn rebuild the Order]] by recruiting new members for them after a certain point, and have them accompany you on Dragon-slaying missions.

* [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Our Dovah Are Different]]: The Dragons, who rather than have the usual BreathWeapon, [[LanguageOfMagic speak their abilities into reality]]. So they say the Draconic word for "fire" and fire appears.

** In addition to the three playable Mer races, there's also the Falmer (Snow Elves), Maormer (Sea Elves), Dwemer ('deep ones', the Dwarves), Chimer ('changed ones', ancestors to the Dunmer), and Aldmer (the precursors to all Mer races). Of all these, only the Maormer are still around; the Dwemer disappeared after the War of the First Council, all at the same time. Theories vary wildly on just what happened. The Falmer were slaughtered ''en masse'' by the first Nords to arrive in Tamriel, which drove them to the Dwemer, who enslaved them. After the Dwemer disappeared, the Falmer took their cities as their own, becoming mutated, twisted versions of their former selves (essentially they are now [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent the game's version of goblins]]). The Chimer became the Dunmer after Azura cursed them at the end of the War of the First Council, due to the Tribunal betraying Indoril Nerevar (possibly killing him) and using the Heart of Lorkhan for themselves. The Aldmer, of course, became the various Mer races. Only the Maormer remain, on a continent to the south of Tamriel.

* OurGiantsAreBigger: Giants are enormous humanoids about three times the size of humans. They are roughly comparable to cavemen, and form camps with mammoths, which they apparently use as pets, guard animals, and a source of milk and cheese. Giants are generally peaceful unless you intrude into their camps, though you periodically get bounties on giants that have been stealing cattle or raiding farms. Otherwise, [[BullyingADragon anyone provoking a giant]] [[MegatonPunch gets exactly]] [[TooDumbToLive what they deserve.]]

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: No, they're not zombies, they're ''Draugr.'' And they're cursed with undeath for having served Alduin the first time around - at least, some of them are; others may have origins closer to what was indicated in ''Bloodmoon'', the game that introduced them. (In this series, "zombie" usually refers to magically revived corpses by necromancers.) Draugr are closer to {{Mumm|y}}ies than zombies in many ways, as they are artificially preserved and haunt cursed tombs, and many have magic powers of their own (including Shouts). They also bear many similarities to the Draugr of Norse mythology.

** You in the Dark Brotherhood storyline. Because the chef you're impersonating is an aloof mysterious figure that no one has ever seen (because he's an orc), you can show up as any race, dressed in anything from [[BlackKnight Daedric Armor]] to a Jester's outfit, and no one will question it. Your assistant will only ask that you put on a chef's hat to cook (even though you're just telling her what ingredients to add.)

* PlayingPossum: Some Draugr like to hide in alcoves with the (completely) dead Draugr, only getting up after you've walked passed them. It works if you aren't paying attention, but the only ones that do this are the ones wearing armor and it's easy to catch them in the act. Then you get free hits until they stand up.

* PoliceAreUseless: In regards to you at least, there may as well not be any guards in town. As long as you don't commit any major crimes like murder, guards can be bribed through use of a perk or your membership with the Thieves' Guild, and if you're Thane of the settlement, you can pull rank to get them to leave you alone (but only once). If you've committed a minor crime, like trying to break into a locked house or stealing a potion, you can just convince them you aren't worth the time. Walking around town while you have a small bounty will prompt mutters of "wait, I know you" from guards you pass, but none of them will actually try and apprehend you.

** The Rieklings in Benkongerike have numerous copies of The Lusty Argonian Maid, Vol. 1 & 2 collected in a disorganized pile. The porn stash itself is used as concealment for the Telekinesis spellbook found underneath it.

* {{Pride}}: A central motif in ''Dragonborn'' is how pride influences people with regards to enemies and power, and ultimately whether or not they can look past it. The player character is attacked and further insulted by people who claim they are not the true Dragonborn and is later able to [[spoiler: recognize that they need Hermaeus Mora's help]]; Bujold is reluctant to acknowledge her own shortcomings and weaknesses; the Riekling Chief isn't and both supplicates the Dovahkiin and considers them a threat; [[spoiler: Storn is willing to look past his pride as a Skaal (who have resisted Hermaeus Mora for eons) for the greater good.]] On the villainous end, Miraak shows more arrogance and hubris than possibly any other character in Skyrim, simultaneously plying the Dragons and then Hermaeus Mora for power, only to immediately thereafter act as if the alliance is beneath him and that he shouldn't need to honor it. He even claims that Alduin is nothing more than an annoyance to him, in spite of it being extremely unlikely he knows how strike at Alduin. On the other hand, Hermaeus Mora shows himself to be extremely humble, giving the Dovahkiin rewards in exchange for their efforts, encouraging them to search his realm for tomes of power and later, [[spoiler: in spite of Miraak's treachery, displays a willingness to work with whichever Dovahkiin comes out alive and, in this conversation at least, barely even taking notice of Miraak's loathing for his present situation.]]

* RagnarokProofing: The dwarves have been gone for several thousand years, but their {{Death Trap}}s and robots are still working perfectly fine. There is an explanation for that: the Dwemer bent/changed the laws of physics to make their materials impervious to wear, tear and corrosion, plus some of them (specifically the little worker spider-bots) are designed to repair one another. Destroyed spiders can sometimes be seen to drop ore, implying they collect new materials where necessary for upkeep.

* RandomlyGeneratedLevels: Some of the sidequests will randomly generate based on your playing style, like setting the target of the quest in a dungeon you haven't explored yet. Bounties for example, just tell you go to to X location and kill Y. That means that a bounty quest given in Riftin may have you traveling to Markarth to kill a Forsworn bandit.

** In ''Dawnguard'', Serana and her mother are "Daughters of Cold Harbor" and became vampires during a rite to the Daedric prince Molag Bal. Molag Bal, known as the King of Rape, raped a girl to make the first vampire, and it's implied that the event is re-enacted during this rite. Neither of them like to talk about the details, and Serana herself calls what she experienced "degrading".

** [[spoiler: Knight-Paladin Gelebor and his brother, Arch-Curate Vrythur, the last surviving Snow Elves. Given that it's heavily implied that Auriel himself is keeping the former alive, they may even come from the Merethic Era]].

** The Vigilants of Stendarr are an entire faction of this in ''Dawnguard''. The moment the DLC is installed, everyone at their headquarters is killed by the Volkihar Vampires.
*** Not just killed. Before ''Dawnguard'' is installed, the Hall of the Vigilants is fully stocked home base for a sect of Daedra hunters. After installation, it becomes a burned-out husk filled with corpses.

** TheEmpire itself is a mere shadow of its former glory, with only three provinces remaining under its control. Three (Summerset Isle, Elsweyr and Valenwood) have seceded and have become part of what is now the Third Aldmeri Dominion while the other two (Black Marsh and Hammerfell) have gone completely independent (Black March has also expanded north, conquering a fair quantity of what is left habitable in Morrowind). Out of the three provinces that the Empire still controls, only High Rock has been untouched by either war or natural disaster.

** The Thieves' Guild questline turns into one of these following [[spoiler:Mercer Frey betraying you at Snow Veil Sanctum]] and really picks up when [[spoiler:the rest of the Guild find out the full extent of his treachery and join you in taking him down]].

*** And gains a SpearCounterpart spin-off in ''Dawnguard'', "The Sultry Argonian Bard".

* TheScapegoat: [[spoiler:''You'']] in the Forsworn quest chain in Markarth.

** Many dungeons have pedestals with objects on them. Picking them up triggers a BoobyTrap. Subverted in one case when it opens a hidden treasure room.

* In the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, you just know that the Black Books are something ''special''. They're much thicker than normal books. What could possibly be written inside them?

* SealedEvilInACan: The Dragonborn's defeat of Alduin is only temporary, as confirmed by Arngier. Alduin is, in fact, a god, and therefore will return at the end of the world, meaning all your efforts have only extended the time until the end of the world. The difference is that it will occur when the gods plan it to, rather than according to the caprices of a power-drunk domineering dragon entrusted with the task.

** Karstaag is the ultimate example of this. The very same frost giant king that the player killed in ''Morrowind'', can be fought again as a ghost if you summon him by reattaching his skull to his body in the ruins of his castle found in ''Dragonborn''. He has a ground stomp that will send you flying across the room. He also uses it often, so good luck getting into melee range.

** Particularly noteworthy in ''Skyrim'' is the complete removal of about 4-5 small towns entirely from the world map, and 3 are now just random inns along the road. This wouldn't be so notable if it wasn't for the fact that one of towns reduced to an inn was Old Hroldan, which was the site of a major battle that would be the start of TheEmpire. The game even mentions that Hroldan should be a town and calls attention to it with a quest due to its historical significance with Talos.
* SpamAttack: If you time your castings right, you can put out an impressive volume of fire with two-handed non-dual-cast Destruction spells. Special shout-out goes out to a [[ReviveKillsZombie non-destruction-school attack spell]] provided by Dawnguard: [[LightEmUp Vampire's Bane]], which charges up ready to cast even faster than the Destruction spells, allowing you to put out a blinding amount of area-effect LightEmUp damage and emptying your magicka bar in very short order.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The ''Dragonborn'' Expansion can be seen as this to ''Morrowind's Bloodmoon''. As they both take place in Solstheim, both have quests involving the Falx Carius and Fort Frostmoth. And both expansions are the only times you'll run into the Skaal.

** In both the Companions' quest and the College of Winterhold quest, you have to activate something that would lock you into the room with no way to get out without a scripted scene. There is absolutely nothing you can do to avoid this; the only way to proceed is to use the event flag to open the doors to go further.

** [[spoiler: Console commands, however, reveal that he's a Nord, with receding hair and BlackEyesOfEvil, the latter presumably a side-effect of either learning too many of Hermaeus Mora's secrets or spending too much time in Apocrypha]].

* TitleDrop: Done for an individual quest. During peace negotiations in "Season Unending," Ulfric may warn Tullius, "Remember, Evgir unslaad", which is Dragon tongue for "Season Unending." In other words, "This [war] isn't over".

** In ''Dawnguard'', Serana and her mother are "Daughters of Cold Harbor" and became vampires during a rite to the Daedric prince Molag Bal. Molag Bal, known as the King of Rape, raped a girl to make the first vampire, and it's implied that the event is re-enacted during this rite. Neither of them like to talk about the details.

* PornStash: The Rieklings in Benkongerike have numerous copies of The Lusty Argonian Maid, Vol. 1 & 2 collected in a disorganized pile. The porn stash itself is used as concealment for the Telekinesis spellbook found underneath it.

* {{Railroading}}: While the world is indeed wide open and lets you do quests in almost any order, the quests themselves tend to be extremely linear, with a few rare exceptions.

* RandomlyGeneratedLevels: Some of the sidequests will randomly generate based on your playing style, like setting the target of the quest in a dungeon you haven't explored yet.

** [[TheOrder The Blades]] have been all but wiped out in the 200 years since the Oblivion Crisis. During the Great War between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion, most of their members were hunted down and killed by the Thalmor. Only a handful managed to survive the war, and any remaining members live in hiding as they are still being hunted by the Thalmor.

* ShockwaveStomp: Giants and frost atronachs will do this to stun people. Giants do it with their clubs. Frost atronachs do it with their club-shaped arms. In each case, they're trying to pound you into the ground, not slamming the ground just to stun you; the shockwave is merely the result of a near miss (and a reminder, especially in the case of giants, that you really, ''really'' don't want to get hit).

** Very annoyingly, dragons do this ''all the time'' by attacking you out of nowhere. Even if you survive the encounter, there's still the chance of a dragon killing an NPC you were trying to talk to/protect.

* [[spoiler:SpiritWorld: Sovngarde is real, and you can go there.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero:

** To explore the Dwemer ruins beneath Markarth, you first have to get through a nest of frostbite spiders. At the end of the nest, guarded by a huge spider, you find a dead Legion soldier, with a note on him describing an expedition that delved deep into the ruins. [[spoiler:If you follow the quest to find the missing researchers, you find the ruin crawling with Falmers, and, as one journal says, the spider nest was the only thing keeping them from flooding into the city. Your next target after that is to fix the problem you just created... by firing up all the dormant Dwemer animunculi to kill them.]]
** In "The Blessings of Nature", if you choose to manipulate the Eldergleam in order to access your destination, [[spoiler: you also give life to a number of Spriggans who turn hostile on both you... and some friendly visitors who were only there to confine themselves in the peace and tranquility of the grove.]]

** On top of that, there's no way to go against the Thieves' Guild or Maven Black-Briar. The fact that Brynjolf forces the first of the Thieve's Guild quest on you the first time he sees you (which is pretty easy, as he stands in the center of Riften every day) has caused a few mods to pop up ''specifically to invoke this trope'' just so they wouldn't be accosted by him.
* NoHeroDiscount: Averted in a sense. While being a good person doesn't net you a discount when it comes to purchases, merchants for whom you've done favors will allow you to take some items off their shelves without considering it stealing, and they regularly restock. As long as an item's name isn't red when you interact with it, help yourself with no repercussions!

* NoOntologicalInertia: ZigZagged. Attacking summoners and necromancers plays this straight: their zombies and/or atronachs will vanish or disintegrate. However, unlike in ''Oblivion'', where the gates vanish after banishing Dagon, [[spoiler: the dragons are still around after you kill Alduin.]] Justified in that [[spoiler: Alduin ''revived'' a bunch of dead dragons, but he isn't ''keeping'' them alive.]]

** The "radiant" conversations for the Dark Brotherhood members are basically nothing but a huge pile of noodles; see directly below.

*** Lampshaded in the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, where one of the walls is buried under the red mountain ash, but you can hear the chorus calling you.
* NotMeThisTime: During the "Diplomatic Immunity" mission, you can ask someone to do you a favor and distract everyone at the party so you can sneak off. Unless you're asking Razelan himself (who gives a sarcastic toast) or Erikur (who hits on a serving girl), the distraction will usually consist of the person walking up to Razelan and accusing him of saying something horrible. Razelan protests, claiming that ''this'' time he's completely innocent! It's an example of this trope because Razelan is a notorious drunkard, so whatever he's being accused of saying would not be out of character for him to say, it's just that ''this'' time he didn't actually say it.

---> '''Mirmulnir''': "Dovahkiin!? No!"

* OnlySmartPeopleMayPass: Subverted with the combination locks on the claw-operated doors in Draugr barrows. One of the books you can read in-game contains speculation as to why these puzzles were made so easy (the combination is engraved on the key itself). The answer, according to the author, is that the combination is there in order to ensure that the door is being opened by a sentient being, rather than a mindless undead. In other words, the doors aren't there to keep people from getting ''in'' = they're there to [[SealedEvilInACan keep things from getting]] ''[[SealedEvilInACan out]]''.

** The Thieves' Guild will dock your pay if you get caught or kill someone during Delvin and Vex's side missions, but for the purposes of the main quest, no one minds if you choose to hack or blast your way through the areas where you're supposed to be stealthy.
** Boethiah's quest is stated by the goddess herself to be a stealth mission, with her telling you to kill all the bandits in the mine without them seeing you; but it doesn't matter if they see you or not, as once you get the Ebony Armor, the quest ends with Boethiah using the same dialogue.

** The Blades, too. Though unlike in ''Oblivion'', you can't join them, as the Order proper has long since fallen apart and almost entirely died out. Plus they are nominally supposed to ''serve'' you, as their purpose is to serve a Dragonborn and you are the last Dragonborn (not that this oath of "service" stops them ''demanding'' that you kill [[spoiler: Paarthunax]], and refusing to talk to you or help until you do). Though you ''can'' help [[OrderReborn rebuild the Order]] by recruiting new members for them after a certain point, and have them accompany you on Dragon-slaying missions.

* OpposedMentors: In ''Skyrim'' you have the choice of being backed by the Greybeards (who are {{Actual Pacifist}}s) and the Blades (who want to slay every single dragon in existence). In the end [[spoiler: the Blades ask you to kill the dragon who serves as the mentor to the Greybeards, forcing you to choose one side or the other. Siding with the Blades gives you access to dragon-hunting potions and skills, and the option to fight a dragon whenever you want, while siding with the Greybeards allows you to skip the Civil War questline (making you not have to side with either the Stormcloaks or the Legion) by negotiating a temporary truce. It's also an argument of practicality/caution versus idealism/loyalty. Despite being a generous and helpful ally who has done ''nothing'' to slight you, Paarthurnax ''is'' a dragon, and even though he tells you that he's reformed, he also makes it clear that he fights to retain control of his aggression every single day and that it's wise not to trust him.]]

* [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Our Dovahhe Are Different]]: The Dragons, who rather than have the usual BreathWeapon, [[LanguageOfMagic speak their abilities into reality]]. So they say the Draconic word for "fire" and fire appears.

** One of the possible random encounters in the outside world is a group of thieves that killed Imperial guards, stole their equipment, and pretend to be them while trying to charge taxes. [[BlatantLies Not only are the naked corpses of the guards still nearby, the hesitant way they speak is very easy to see through]]. If you joined the Imperial side of the war, there's even a dialogue option where you tell them you ''know'' they're not soldiers.

* PetTheDog: You can do this for Braith, the brat in Whiterun who always remarks "What're you lookin' at? I'm not afraid of you, ya know. Even if you are my elder." If she should become orphaned for whatever reason, you can adopt her in the ''Hearthfire'' DLC.

** And then you find a single lone thief in Riften cowering in the corner of the blacksmith's cellar surrounded by [[NoKillLikeOverkill twenty armed guards,]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck all with bows raised and arrows nocked...]]

* PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo: In the Daedric quest "The Mind of Madness", Sheogorath mentions that he was present during the Oblivion Crisis (and mentions knowing Martin as well), which implies that the player character from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' is still effectively the Daedric Prince that you meet in the quest. Strangely, Sheogorath appears and speaks with the same voice and mannerisms as the original Sheogorath from the ''Shivering Isles'' expansion, either due to RuleOfFunny or to resolve that game's own CharacterCustomization, which is similar in scope to Skyrim.

* PunnyName: ''Hearthfire'' is obviously named in reference to the home building and family building it allows the PC to do. Heartfire, however, is the [[AlternativeCalendar in-universe name for September]], the month where the DLC was released. Some books (and previous games) even spell the month as "Hearthfire."

** Ulfric's replacement, should the Imperial Legion win, is basically in running for some "Best Human Being Alive" award. He's kind, decent, polite. Within '''hours''' of getting his new job, he's already met the dark elves of the ghetto-like grey quarters to work on plans to renovate the Grey Quarters, and is trying to find a way to let the Argonians into the city without increasing the town's already huge racial tensions. And that's along with his plans to rebuild Windhelm's economy and reputation following the war. He even keeps most of Ulfric's staff on hand since they know their jobs well enough, and offers lodging to the deposed Jarls who were supporting Ulfric.

** General Tullius is quite rough along the edges, but it's clear that he cares about his men (listen to his speech [[spoiler: after the battle of Windhelm]]) and does not like to slaughter the Stormcloaks, fully aware that the only faction who will gain from the war is the Thalmor. And while he calls your execution at the start of the game a "slight misunderstanding", he ''at least'' recognizes the fact that you got dragged into it for no good reason.

* RecliningReigner: The default model pose for anyone sitting on a throne.
** Which means that it may double as a SlouchOfVillainy for Jarls of opposite factions depending on whose side you're on.

** The Vigilants Of Stendarr are an entire faction of this in ''Dawnguard''. The moment the DLC is installed, everyone at their headquarters is killed by the Volkihar Vampires.

** [[MurderInc The Dark Brotherhood]] is all the way down to a remote sanctuary in a Skyrim forest, and they're short a Listener. Without [[ISeeDeadPeople a Listener]], they don't know about any of the [[DealWithTheDevil contracts]] that come from people praying to [[EldritchAbomination the Night Mother]], the Dark Brotherhood's patron saint and bride of [[GodOfEvil Sit]][[PowerOfTheVoid his]]. They've had to abandon the five Tenets, the only rules the Brotherhood has ever had, and actively go out and look for people seeking their services, just to survive.

** TheEmpire itself is only a shadow of its former glory, with only three provinces remaining under its control. Three (Summerset Isle, Elsweyr and Valenwood) have seceded and have become part of what is now the Third Aldmeri Dominion while the other two (Black Marsh and Hammerfell) have gone completely independent (Black March has also expanded north, conquering a fair quantity of what is left habitable in Morrowind). Out of the three provinces that the Empire still controls, only High Rock has been untouched by either war or natural disaster.

* {{Retcon}}: Hermaeus Mora's appearance (a dark purple vortex) in the vanilla game's main questline has been changed to reflect his Dragonborn appearance [[spoiler:[[CthulhuMythos Yog-Sothoth Lite.]]]]

* RevivingEnemy: Trolls and Frost Trolls will fall prone and appear dead when they have a small slither of health but continue regenerating their health... (although the fact they don't get knocked back is a bit of a giveaway). See ISurrenderSuckers for some honorable mentions.

* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: Subverted: the game opens with the Empire appearing rather overzealous in their desire to execute members of the rebellion, and most of the PC's fellow prisoners are rebels, giving the player a far better initial impression of the Stormcloaks. However, as the game goes on, it becomes quite apparent that the Stormcloaks aren't as good as they seem, being rather racist, and there's several doubts cast on their leader, Ulfric Stormcloak, and his true goals in starting the rebellion, while the Empire is shown to not be completely irredeemable but flawed. The situation soon turns into a GrayAndGreyMorality situation.

* RoaringRampageOfRescue: Thanks to the ''Hearthfire'' DLC, sometimes when the Dragonborn comes home, his/her spouse is not there and will instead be greeted by a bandit with a ransom note. [[TooDumbToLive Apparently Rochelle the Red thought kidnapping the Dovahkiin's spouse was a good idea]].

** If you join the Dark Brotherhood, you get to do this on another character's behalf in the early questline, killing both a bandit leader name Alain Dufont and optionally a girl in Windhelm named Nilsine Shatter-Shield as part of a revenge scheme concocted by that mission's client Muiri, who feels that Alain, who got close to her just so he could use her to rob the Shatter-Shields (who she was a close friend of), and the Shatter-Shields themselves, who cast Muiri out afterwards, both need to pay for ruining her life. She admits she planned to do it herself, but lost her nerve and instead hired the Dark Brotherhood to exact her vengeance for her.

-->"I fight for the men I've held in my arms, dying on foreign soil! I fight for their wives and children, whose names I heard whispered in their last breath. I fight for we few who did come home, only to find our country full of strangers wearing familiar faces. I fight for my people impoverished to pay the debts of an Empire too weak to rule them, yet brands them criminals for wanting to rule themselves! [[SunkCostFallacy I fight so that all the fighting I've already done hasn't been for nothing!]] I fight...because I must."

** Fishy Sticks return, this time as a form of meditative stance used by... Sheogorath.

** In the College of Winterhold questline you initially find a strange orb in a nordic ruin. It later turns out to be the 'Eye of Magnus', an immensely powerful artifact. Then it gets into the hands of an insane Thalmor mage and guess who has to take care of that...

* SceneryPorn: Par the course for a Bethesda game. Someone most definitely put a ''lot'' of work into the sky textures this time around. The water physics have also ''vastly'' improved. [[http://youtu.be/CQB4wkmKOv8 Case in point, this timelapse video.]] For a nice view, go to an iceberg in the middle of the northern sea, use Clear Skies, and marvel as [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome you can see from Winterhold to Solitude.]] And if you've been delving into Dwemer ruins, you'll likely have come across Blackreach... it's a sight to be seen, for sure.

** One Dwemer ruin has a particularly amusing example - when you enter all you see is a single room with a bright light floating in midair. Right next to it are a couple of dead bodies, and if you have a follower, they'll say "I have a bad feeling about this," which is usually saved for boss rooms or horrible occurrences. Unsurprisingly, choosing to "Touch the Mysterious Orb" results in being caught in a trap (although it's [[NotTheFallThatKillsYou mostly harmless]], and is the only way to access the rest of the ruin).
** One dungeon contains a Word Wall with a trap door rigged to send you plummeting down into an evil necromancer's lair. Another dungeon reverses this equation by having a lethal spike trap guarding a chest which is revealed to contain only useless junk. And beneath the spike trap? [[spoiler: A spiral staircase leading to a word wall]]. Luckily, your backstabbing partner for the dungeon will take the bait if not killed.

* SchrodingersGun:
** A very early one whose effects can be seen immediately at the beginning of the game. During the chaos of the dragon attacking the garrison at Helgen, you can run into the keep with either a Stormcloak lieutenant or an Imperial lieutenant. If you're with the Imperial, the keep is full of hostile Stormcloaks, if you're with the Stormcloak, it's full of hostile Imperials (including the female captain that ordered your execution without trial).
* ScoobyDooHoax: Subverted in the Shroud Hearth Barrow sidequest. The "spirit" haunting the barrow is a treasure hunter who's invented a potion to make him look like a ghost to scare everyone away while he works out how to plunder the tomb... but after six months without finding a way in, he's gone crazy and thinks he really is a guardian spirit. [[note]] Though it's heavily implied that most of his insanity is a result of getting amnesia from drinking too many of his potions [[/note]] However, the barrow ''is'' actually full of Draugr and skeletons... but they're deeper in than where the treasure hunter was.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: If you've worked your way through the Thieves Guild questline, guards can be bribed to forgive your crimes and erase your bounty. It's a flatrate, too, which means they'll erase bounties far higher than the payoff.

** Some roleplaying or hardcore players go the "[=DiD=]" ([[NoDeathRun Dead is Dead]]) route when playing Skyrim. If their character is killed, he or she is deleted.

* SillyReasonForWar: PlayedForDrama. One the surface, the Civil War is about religious freedom and humanity's fight for survival against evil elves, started by the Empire signing a peace treaty with the Thalmor that bans Talos worship. The Stormcloaks accuse the Empire of being oppressed [[StupidSurrender elven puppets]], while the Empire accuse the Stormcloaks of being racist [[UnwittingPawn elven pawns]]. The thing is, the Empire never enforce the ban except in the most flagrantly public of instances; practically every house in Skyrim has a small Talos shrine inside, and heck, even many of the Imperial high command still worship Talos in secret. And no matter how much they hate each other, ''[[ScrewYouElves they still hate the Thalmor more]]''. To make matters worse, the pro-Empire High King Torygg is speculated to have actually agreed with Ulfric, if Ulfric merely asked instead of shouting the King to death. So in practice, the war is being fought over who wants to openly worship Talos and fight the elves right now, and who wants to worship Talos privately to buy time and gather strength and fight the elves when they're ready, and everyone is so caught up in blaming each other and accusing the other of being wrong that they won't admit that the whole mess is utterly pointless and [[MagnificentBastard playing right into the Thalmor's hands]].
* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Dragonbone equipment]]. There's really nothing more appropriate than killing dragons with the bones of other dragons you've already killed. There's even unique dialog for it from the final boss.

* SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear: On occasion, a quest will prevent a follower from tagging along. Sometimes, the follower will just announce that he/she will be waiting where you found them but sometimes, the follower just won't be there when you go through a door or talk to a certain person. This can be maddening if you have them carrying something important for you, like a weapon too heavy for you to carry or specialized gear you bring for specific situations. Also, it's ''not'' unheard of for [[GoodBadBugs the game to "lose" them]]. It's possible for followers to "die" on the way back to the meeting spot or to get glitched someplace else, which is the final nail in playing this trope straight.
* SolveTheSoupCans: Played with. The puzzle to unlock a specific quest item consists of four buttons that move elements of the machine holding it when you press them. The solution is actually simple: press one button until one of the covered buttons opens, press the new button until the other covered button opens, and then press that button to open the machine. However, even though you can see what's happening with each button press, the goal in pressing them and what is actually happening isn't very clear. When the puzzle is done you can see your objective was to align the lenses overhead with the ones on the floor, but they aren't positioned in a way that looks like they're aligned, you know they are only because the next button opens. There's also two buttons at the start and the two other buttons that eventually open up, so just pressing one button at a time over and over runs counter-intuitive to what most players will assume, that there's a particular combination.

** Thieves' Guild: [[spoiler:Mercer would have easily been able to dispose of Karliah and then leave the Guild high and dry while he makes off with the loot if the player never came into the picture.]]
** Civil War: [[spoiler:The Thalmor wanted to stretch out the civil war to drain the resources from both sides so that they could eventually and easily conquer Skyrim, but the Dragonborn appears and brings a decisive end to the battle in favor of either side, allowing their defenses to recover and prepare. So now the Thalmor have to face a fully prepared army led by a PhysicalGod.]]

* SpikesOfVillainy: The daedra and daedric armor. Falmer and Forsworn equipment are also pretty spiky and evil-looking; the Falmer don't seem able to make huts that ''aren't'' covered in spikes. But then, the Falmer do make everything out of chaurus chitin, and chaurus ''are'' spiky by nature.
* SpiritualSuccessor: The Dragonborn Expansion can be seen as this to Morrowind's Bloodmoon. As they both take place in Solstheim, both have quests involving the Falx Carius and Fort Frostmoth. And both expansions are the only times you'll run into the Skaal.

** [[spoiler:''Dawnguard'' features Soul Cairn, a graveyard-like hell (well, Oblivion Realm) which houses victims of black soul gems. More accurately, the remnants of their souls go there after the main part of their souls are used in enchantments. Makes for a subtle PlayerPunch if you use them a lot.]]

* StealthBasedMission: Ideally, most of the Thieves' Guild missions are set up to be completed by stealth and guile rather than brute force; enemies are often much stronger than you can take on in multiples at your current level and are better off backstabbed or avoided entirely. However, as Black-Briar herself puts it, all that matters is results, so you ''could'' run around in the open stabbing enemies if you feel like it.
** In ''Dawnguard'', one of the Dawnguard's radiant quests requires you to eliminate a vampire disguised as a civilian, but it must be done stealthily, otherwise the guards will view it as a murder.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: Refreshingly averted (mostly), since the female armor actually looks like it could protect vital areas in combat [[JustifiedTrope (also, it gets cold in Skyrim)]]. Don't worry though, there are plenty of mods that are all over this trope.

-->"M'aiq saw a mudcrab the other day. Filthy things." [[note]]A reference to a much-parodied bit of WelcomeToCorneria from Oblivion.[[/note]]

** Arvel the Swift in Bleak Falls Barrow is probably the first example of this trope you encounter. After you save his life and free him from the web he's encased in, he'll refuse to hand over the [[PlotCoupon Golden Claw]] and run recklessly ahead into a cave that at this point has proven to house all sorts of dangers, potentially pissing off someone who was skilled enough to kill a GiantSpider. Even if ''you'' don't kill him, he'll inevitably awaken all the Draugr up ahead, who will happily do the deed themselves. And if he somehow survives the Draugr gauntlet, he won't survive the swiveling spike wall trap tied to the pressure plate switch his running route takes him right over. Swift in ''body'', maybe...

*** To be specific: Delphine has dialogue where she specifically and unequivocally states that the entire purpose of the Blades (and, by extension, her life's goal) is to find and serve the Dragonborn. And yet, she orders you around like a lackey, belittles you when you question her, and eventually gives you an ultimatum to [[spoiler: kill Paarthurnax in revenge for his actions in the Merithic era, thousands of years ago, despite that he had a HeelFaceTurn regarding that and was responsible for teaching the Thu'um to humans back then so they could overthrow their dragon overlords, and it is his actions and advice which make the final defeat of Alduin and saving the entire world from destruction possible - without him, you never would have gotten Ohdaving on your side and been able to travel to Skuldafn to save the world. And no, you can't refuse - your choices are to kill Paarthurnax in revenge for deeds done so long ago they're part of myth and legend and in doing so earn the everlasting hatred of the Greybeards, or don't do it, and never have Delphine and the blades aid you ever again.]]